Maia Lumsden nets place in last four

Maia Lumsden, the British No. 9, produced an excellent performance to progress to the semi-finals of the Budgen Motors GB Pro-Series women’s tennis tournament at The Shrewsbury Club.

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Maia Lumsden

The 20-year-old Scot, currently ranked 376 in the world, swept aside Austrian Barbara Haas, the third seed, in straight sets to set up a last four showdown today against Belgian Greet Minnen, who also impressed in knocked out top seed Arantxa Rus.

The other semi-final will be between Turkish player Pemra Ozgen, the only seed now left in the $25,000 International Tennis Federation tournament, and Russian Valeria Savinykh.

Lumsden and Minnen will be first on court at 11.30am, with the clash between Ozgen and Savinykh following.

Lumsden, who arrived in Shropshire last weekend to initially take part in the qualifying rounds, maintained her fine form by hitting the heights to secure a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Haas, who has a career high ranking of 134.

The only British player to get past the first round in Shrewsbury this week, Lumsden will now face Minnen, ranked 316, delivered an outstanding display to get the better of top seed Arantxa Rus 6-3, 6-1.

It was a notable victory for the 21-year-old Belgian - who reached the semi-finals in Shrewsbury in 2015 - against Dutch ace Rus, a player currently just outside the world’s top 100.

Eighth seed Ozgen, from Istanbul, was the first player to book a semi-final spot, advancing with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Spanish player Guiomar Maristany Zuleta De Reales.

“I’m happy to be in the semis,” said Ozgen, 32. “I played good and I’m happy to go through.”

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Ozgen, ranked 240 in the world, enjoys coming to Shrewsbury and has become a regular visitor to the town, with the highlight winning the doubles in 2013 with Cagla Buyukakcay, another Turkish player.

“I’ve played here three or four times,” she added. “I like in general all tournaments in England. They’re always well organised and everything we need is always here. That’s why I keep coming back.”

Ozgen will now face Savinykh, currently ranked 377 having been as high as 99, in a quick rematch after they also met last week in a $25,000 tournament at Wirral, a second round contest which the Russian player won 6-3, 6-3.

Savinykh, 27, reached the last four with a 6-3, 7-5 victory against Romanian Laura-Ioana Andrei, the longest of the quarter-final matches, lasting just over two hours.

Meanwhile, there is British interest in the doubles final to be played this afternoon, from 4.30pm, with third seeds Sarah Beth Grey and Olivia Nicholls facing German twins Tayisiya and Yana Morderger.

Admission is free to spectators to enjoy all the day’s action at The Shrewsbury Club’s indoor courts.